Don Carnahan puts down baton, crosses finish line after four decades of coachingMichael ChristopherAssistant Sports Editor

After nearly a dozen state championships in track and field and cross country - not to mention several high school runners who have continued their careers at the collegiate level - Russellville High School coach Don Carnahan thought it was finally time to put his feet up.

Without Carnahan's feet on the track surface, walking on the infield and watching the student-athletes propel themselves to faster times and bigger heights, RHS's Cyclone Stadium will never be the same.

He recently explained why he made the decision to retire after 40 years of coaching, after one more RHS Cyclone Relay, after one more state track and field meet hosted at Cyclone Stadium.

"That seemed like a real good round number to stop on," Carnahan said. "You don't come to a place thinking you're going to stay 40 years. It just happened to be a good fit for me, and I hope it's been a good fit for them. This wasn't a decision made without reservation, but it's been a good time.

"The average life span coaching is 3-5 years. If you're going to stay with it, you have to reach the point of it being a relationship to have with the kids and working with them and helping them do their best that makes you stay with it."

Started early at 22

Carnahan's teams have won a total of 11 state championships in indoor and outdoor track as well as cross country, along with 12 runner-up finishes. In the 2001-02 season, his boys team won the state's "Triple Crown"  Class 5A championships in cross country, indoor and outdoor track. Carnahan was named the state's coach of the year in cross country and outdoor track.

"I was very fortunate to have an early start at 22, but I had some excellent role models which to learn from. George Jones was a very good friend of mine. He was very instrumental in helping me learn to coach track and putting me into a position to where I fell into a leadership at the state level, and that wouldn't have happened without him."

Carnahan has been selected the state's coach of the year in the sport five times. He was also inducted into the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1998 and the Arkansas Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2003.

"I was very fortunate to have a committed administration to having an excellent athletic department, and there were no girls sports at that time. They [Russellville] had a good tradition in track before I came, and we've been able to be the host of some high-quality track and field championship meets, some national events, and we've been able to have a good tradition here at Russellville."

For his cross country contributions, Carnahan was selected cross country coach of the year in 1976 by the National High School Coaches Association. He was selected state coach of the year in 2001-02 for cross country and track by the National Federation Athletic Coaches Association. Arkansas High School Coaches Association named him cross country coach of the year in 1997 and 2001, and he was Arkansas High School Coaches Association track coach of the year in 2002.

"I hope I've given the kids that we've had an opportunity to do their very best. I have a lot of fond memories of the relationships of kids that I've worked with, and I cherish that," Carnahan said.

Carnahan has chaired and served on the Arkansas Athletic Association (AAA) Track and Field Advisory Committee for several years. He was selected as Arkansas' head coach for the Arkansas-Oklahoma All-star meet men's team in 1994. He was also meet coordinator for the NAIA National Outdoor Championships in 1986 and 1987.

Be the best you can be

Simply put, the man is a legend in the sport. However, Carnahan was quite the athlete himself when he competed in football, basketball, baseball and track. He said he thought about coaching one day and has stuck with Russellville for four decades.

"When I started at Russellville 40 years ago, I had no intention of staying this long. But we had some early success, and once you grow roots somewhere it becomes very hard to leave. So a love for sports is what got me started, but what made me stay is working with the kids and seeing them work hard to improve," he said.

Carnahan said he attributes some of his success to his coaching philosophy. He believes in athletes meeting personal goals. Carnahan tried to coach every event and gave his athletes more of an option to choose from. He said all athletes, regardless of skill level, can find something to benefit from.

"Everybody's philosophy evolves over time, but the important parts of mine have stayed the same," he explained. "My staff and I believe in trying to help every single student-athlete to be the very best that they can be. We coach the athlete who's not as talented just as hard as we do the exceptional one. One of the greatest satisfactions we get as coaches is seeing athletes who may never be good enough to win a medal at a meet, achieve their personal goals as they go through the program.

"You really have no say in whether you're going to be a state champion or not. You could do your very best, but some guy down the road may just be better than you. We try to get the kids to buy into the fact that achieving their personal goals is what's important, not the outcome. That way they feel successful even when we aren't the state champions."

Attainable goals were important to Carnahan. He said he believed the best way to motivate an athlete was if they could meet their own personal goals as opposed to working on achieving an outcome or specific result.

"Their goals have to be attainable. Some of them, especially the younger athletes, have no idea what I'm saying when I talk about an achievement goal or a personal goal. They only think about outcome goals," Carnahan said. "So we explain the importance of personal goals and tweak those goals to reflect what I think their capabilities are.

"There have been times when we should have been the champion, but we got a little too uptight. We didn't lose because the other team was better than we were, but because we let our anxiety defeat us. As a coach, I work hard to keep that from happening."

Carnahan reflected back to when he coached football, track and field and cross country. He said you have to love being a coach and love what you do. Carnahan said he got satisfaction and was motivated to coach by watching an athlete do well.

"It was pretty difficult, but I did it because I loved it," he noted. "After a Friday night football game I'd take off at 6 a.m. Saturday for a cross country meet, then spend the rest of the day planning my workouts for the week. On Sunday I would start looking at game film and planning for our next football opponent. My wife thinks I work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 12 months a year, and she's probably not far from wrong. As a coach, you work very hard and you don't make much money, so you really have to enjoy working with the kids or you won't stay long.

"It's the satisfaction I get from helping student-athletes improve. That's what it's all about. You're lucky as a coach when you get that really talented guy, but seeing average or below-average athletes work hard to improve, accomplish their personal goals, and leave high school sports in a positive frame of mind is what kept me coaching."

Many memories

Carnahan said he had lots of fond memories, but the first championship was very special. He said the key to his success was the relationship between athlete and coach. Carnahan is a believer in bringing the best out in each athlete, and he said he understands to help athletes achieve their best, you must be able to help athletes achieve their personal best.

"It's hard to narrow it down to one best memory," Carnahan said. "I would have to say the very first championship - I believe it was 2001-2002 - our boys won the state championship in indoor track, outdoor track and cross country, because there's never been a large division school to accomplish that in the same year. In 1999, both our girls and boys won the indoor track state championship, and that doesn't happen very often - to get both genders to win state championships in the same year."

Carnahan said after 40 years in coaching, he never asked for anything in return other than a listening ear, respect and an athlete's personal best.

"The relationship you develop with the kids as they work hard to try to improve and try to do their very best is the best thing about coaching," he added. "You can really get close to them and those people who've put the time in and a great effort to improve. They might be a lower-caliber person - they're not going to be a state champion - but that personal improvement they can make in whatever event they are brings a lot of satisfaction when they get that personal best.

Additional information for this article was provided by News Editor Sean Ingram and Web sites nhsca.com, arkansasrunner.com and momentummedia.com.